t. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


THOMAS   CARLYLE'S  WORKS. 


The  only  complete  editions  of  CARLYLE 
are  those  published  by 

Messrs.  CHAPMAN  ^  HALL, 

INCLUDING 

THE  CENTENARY  EDITION, 

Edited,  with  Intkoducitons,  by  II.  D.  TRAILL,  D.C.L. 
In  30  volumes,  square  crown  Svo.  Price  p.  6d.  per  Volume. 
The  Centenary  Edition  is  the  most  complete  edition  of  Cari.yle's  Works  yet  issued,  containing 
several  essays  and  minor  writings  never  before  published  in  a  collected  form.  The  volumes  are  printed  on 
light  paper,  and  bound  in  dark  blue  cloth.  The  illustrations  consist  mainly  of  photogravure  and  stee 
portraits,  the  majority  of  which,  including  some  of  Tho.mas  Carlyle,  have  never  appeared  in  any  existing 
edition  ;  maps  and  plans. 

THE    PEOPLE'S    EDITION. 

In   37    volumes,    small   crown   Svo,    red   cloth.       Separate   volumes,    is, 

THE    CHELSEA    EDITION. 

In   special    red    cloth    binding,    11    volumes,    with    gilt    tops,    £1    p.   net. 
AND    THE    NEW 

EDINBURGH      EDITION 

(ON   INDIA   PAPER), 
Price  2s.  net,  cloth  ;  2s.  6d.  net,  leather. 

VOLUMES    NOW    READY. 

THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION.     Complete  in   i  vol. 

SARTOR     RESARTUS:     On    Heross,    Hero-Worship,    and    tl:u:    Heroic    in 
History:   Past  and  Present,     i  vol. 

THE  LIFE  OF  SCHILLER  AND  THE  LIFE^OF  JOHN  STERLING. 

I  vol. 

SEND    TWOPENCE    FOR    ILLUSTRATED    BOOKLET 

giving    a    life    of    Carlyle    and    full    particulars    of    all    the 

copyright   editions  of  his   works. 


CHAPMAN   &   HALL   Ltd.,  ii,  Henrietta  Si    .et,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 


A  MAGAZINE  DE  LUXE  FOR  BOOK  READERS. 


(^rVERY      READER     of 
liiosc    lines    is    a    book 


buyer  and  a  book  reader. 


jS^-  -la-  We  want  every  reader 
of  tlicse  linos  to  become  a  reader  of 
"THE    BOOKMAN."     If   you 

are  not  acquainted  with  "  THE 
BOOKMAN,"  will  you  kindly 
send  a  postcard  to  the  Publishers 
for  a  specimen  copy,  which  will 
gladly  be  forwarded  to  all  readers 
of  this  Fo^klet. 


»'THE      BOOKMAN"     is 

edi'.ed  by  Dr.  Robertson  Nicoll,  and 
is  published  during  the  first  week  of 
every  month,  price  6d.net.  "THE 
BOOKMAN"  is  the  only  monthly 
magazine  devoted  exclusively  to  the 
interests  of  book  readers.  "THE 
BOOKMAN"  is  the  only  periodi- 
cal which  in  any  adequate  way 
chronicles  the  literary  life  of  the 
day  in  pictures  as  well  as  letterpress. 
"THE  BOOKMAN"  has  already 
the  largest  circulation  of  any  purely 
literary  paper  published  in  the  king- 
dom, and  its  sales  have  increased 
enormously  during  the  last  twelve 
months.  "  THE  BOOKMAN  "  is 
the  best  illustrated  guide  to  the  best 
books  of  the  day. 


"THE  BOOKMAN"  makes 
appeal  to  everyone  who  is  interested 
in  the  literature  of  the  day.  "THE 
BOOKMAN"  is  not  a  dry-as-dust 
magazine  for  specialists.  Every  line 
and  every  picture  it  contains  is  of 
peculiar  interest  to  the  great  and 
ever-increasing  public  that  delights 
in  books.  "THE  BOOKMAN" 
is  ///(•  periodical  for  those  who  want 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  books  most 
worth  reading  and  witli  the  authors 
most  worth  ki'.owing. 


^ 


"THE  BOOKMAN"  con- 
tains each  month  a  separate  plate 
portrait,  printed  by  the  finest  process 
of  half-tone  photogravure.  These 
portraits,  forming  as  they  do  a 
unique  Gallery  of  Famous  Modern 
Authors,  have  been  immensely  ap- 
preciated, and  many  readers  of 
"THE  BOOKMAN"  have  the 
complete  series  framed  on  their 
walls.  Among  the  plates  which 
have  given  greatest  satisfaction  are 
portraits  of  Carlyle,  Tennyson, 
Browning,  Dickens,  Scott,  Thack- 
eray, Jane  Austen,  Ruskin,  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson,  George  Macdonald, 
Thomas  Hardy,  Alexandre  Dumas, 
Tolstoy,  Swinburne,  J.  M.  Barrie, 
Herbert  Spencer,  A.  Conan  Doyle, 
Alfred  Austin,  George  Eliot,  Matthew 
Arnold,  etc.,  etc. 


"THE      BOOKMAN"     con 

tains  each  month  an  article  on  some 
prominent  author  of  the  day,  written 
by  an  eminent  critic  and  magnifi- 
cently illustrated  throughout,  articles 
on  topics  of  literary  interest  by  well- 
known  writers,  reviews  of  the  best 
new  books  written  by  the  first 
authorities,  several  pages  of  the 
freshest  literary  news,  reports  as  to 
the  best  selling  books  of  the  month, 
articles  on  new  writers  of  promise, 
etc.,  etc.  "THE  BOOKMAN" 
thus  fulfils  in  a  manner  never  before 
attempted  the  requirements  of  the 
great  book-loving  public.  "THE 
BOOKMAN  "  is  published  during 
the  first  week  of  every  month, 
price  6d.  net. 


HODDHR  &  STOUOHTON, 
27,  Paternoster  Row,  London,  E.C. 


THOMAS  CARLYLE 

I   1-1  iM     1  'I  I      I     ■!     I  '     \  1  '     I.-,      w  )  I    I    I  AM    1!AK< 


l'holoi;r,ipluil  hy  /.  .'■  A'.  .Innait  i~  Sum. 
KtfitoiliictJ  by  kiiul  permission  of  the 
Editor  of  '•  liritannitt." 


Thomas  Carlyle 


G.     K.     CHESTERTON 


AND 


J.     E.     HODDER    WILLIAMS 


WITH    NUMEROUS     ILLUSTRATIONS 


THIRD    EDITION 


LONDON 

HODDER    AND    STOUGHTON 

27    PATERNOSTER    ROW 
1903 


PRINTED    BY 

HAZELL,    WATSON    AND   VINEY,    LD. 

LONDON    AND   AYLESBURY. 


;:>»"'i'^' 


GTFT 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 


Portrait  of  Thomas  Carlyle       ..... 

Thojias  Carlyle's  Mother  ...... 

Arch  House,  Ecclefechax  ...... 

The  Room  at  Arch  House  in  which  Carlyle  was  Boux 

Ecclefechax,  Dumfriesshire         ..... 

Maixhill  Farm     ........ 

HoDDAM  Hill        ........ 

'1'ho:mas  Carlyle  (from  a  Portrait  ])v  Maclise)     . 

A    Portrait  of  Carlyle  Exgraved    by    F.    Croll   from    a    Dac; 
BY  Beard        ........ 

Thojias  Carlyle  (from  a  Sketch  by  Count  D'Orsay)  . 

Carlyle"'s  First  Edixburgh  Lodgixg  ix  Simox  Square 

1,  Moray  Street  (xow  Spey  Street),  Leith  Walk,  Edixbi 

Tho:mas  Carlyle  (from  Photo)      .... 

Mrs.  Carlyle's  Birthplace  ..... 

The  House  ix  which  Carlyle  Lived  while  first  Te 
School    .          .         . '       . 

scotsbrig        ........ 

Pejiplaxd,  xear  Thorxhill,  Dumfriesshire  . 

Thomas  Carlyle  (from  Paiiitiny  by  AVliistlcr) 

21,  Comely  Baxk,  Edixburcjh        .... 

Thomas  Carlyle  (from  Sir  J.  E.   Boelim's  ^Medallion) 

Thomas  Carlyle,  about  1860        .... 


UERRI 


ACHIX 


G    AT 


1 
.  2 
2 
i5 
4 
4 
5 


OTYPE 


KiRKC 


6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

11 
YZ 
Y2 

i;3 

14 
lo 
1() 


197 


IV 


I.IS'I'    Ol'    ILUSTHATIOXS 


PAliE 

Thomas  ('aui.vi.k.   ISd")  ..........      17 

A    l*oitii!  \i  I'  ill"  ("akiai.i  iakia"   in   IST!)        .......      IS 

J'aoi.mh.i.s  (ti-    ('Al!I,vl.l.^■^  Sa.NAii  ui;        ........      IS 

C'uAUMAi'i  rroc  K                .  .          .                    .          .          .                    .                    .19 

I'olt  lltAI  I'    (il!()l   I-     IAKIA     A  I'     KllfK(  AI.DV     ........        19 

'rii(tMA>  ("aimai.i:  (tVoin   Sir  -I.    !•].    Hoclmrs    liiisl )  .  .  .  .  .  .      J2() 

('\i!iAi.i"s   IIoisK  AT  ."3  (NOW    ^4).  ("iii;^\i;   Rtiu.  ("ih.i.ska      .  .  .  .     '21 

.Ian I.   W'l  i.sii   Caimai.i:  ...........     21 

("OUNKU     IN     l)lfA\VlN(.-K()(>.M     Al'     No.     -"3,    ClIIANl,     RoW  .  .  .  .  .        !22 

Thk  Gahdi.n  Af  No.  .">.  ("ill  vNi:   How  ........     J23 

Thomas  ("akiai.i:  (IVoni    Diviu  iii^-   in   "S.-irioi-   Hf.sartii.s ")         .  .  .  .24- 

^lus.   ("ai!iai.k   Aiioi  r   iSfil     ..........      i25 

<'AltLVI,i;"s    (iliAVK     Al'     l->((  l.i:i-l.(IIAN  ........        52() 

Mi;>.   (akia  i.i,"s  (iit.wi     IN    1  Iaddixcion   ('iiri!(  a     .  .  .  .  .  .26 

"^I'lioMAs  ('aui.vi.k  (tVoin   Sir  ,].   K.    Mill;ii>"   I'oitrait)       .  .  .  .27 

Thk  GitoiND-Ki.ooit   J{o().\:s  ai-  No.  5.  Cm  vnk  Itow   (1901))    .  .  .  .     2S 

Thk  (lAiati/r  Sri  dv   ai"  Chkvxk   How    (1S.")7)  .  .  .  .  .  .29 

Tiio.mas  (".viii.vi.k.    kt.   7;5  (from   I'aiiitiii--  In    (;.    F.    ^Vatts,  R.A.)  .  .     J30 

Thk  Sol  Ni)-l'itooi'    Sri  i)V    ai'    Chi  vnk    1\o\v    i\    1900,  showiw;  thk    Doibi.k 

Walks 31 

Thk   KiiriiKN  at  No.   Tj.  Chkvnk   Row  (1<)0()) ,'52 

CaIU.^  I.KS     \\'uiriN(.-l)l  >K     AND    ClIAIli        ........        iiJj 

Statlk  ok  Caki.vi.k  (1)v  Sir  J.   K.   IJochiii)    .......     35 


THOMAS     CARLYLE 


THERE  are  few  cultivated 
people  who  do  not  pretend 
to  have  read  INIr.  I^ecky's  "  History 
of  Rationahsm  in  JLurope."  Tliat 
very  able  work  covers  the  wliole  of 
one  very  important  side  of  modern 
development.  But  the  picture  of 
the  real  prooress,  tlie  real  mental  and 
moral  improvement  of  our  species 
during  the  last  few  centuries,  will 
not  be  complete  until  JNIr.  Eccky 
publishes  a  companion  volume  en- 
titled "  The  History  of  Irrationalism 
in  Europe."  The  two  tendencies, 
acting  together,  have  been  respon- 
sible for  the  whole  advancement  of 
the  Western  world.  Rationalism  is, 
of  course,  that  power  which  makes 
people  invent  sewing  machmes,  understand  Euclid,  reform  vestries, 
pull  out  teeth,  and  number  the  fixed  stars.  Irrationalism  is  that  other 
force,  if  possible  more  essential,  which  makes  men  look  at  sunsets, 
laugh  at  jokes,  go  on  crusades,  write  poems,  enter  monasteries,  and 
jump  over  hay-cocks.  Rationalism  is  the  beneficent  attempt  to  make 
our  institutions  and  theories  fit  the  world  we  live  in,  as  clothes  fit  tlie 
wearer.      Irrationalism  is  the  beneficent  reminder  tliat,  at  the  best, 

1 


THOMAS   CARLYLE'S   MOTHER 
(Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  Mr.  Alexander  Carlyle) 


THOMAS   CARLYLE 


by  J.  I\r.>:.K,  J.a:unir^n 

ARCH   HOUSE,   ECCLEFECHAN 
ThL-  I5irlhplacc  of  Thomas  Carlyle 


tlicv  do  not    fit.      Ir- 
rationalisin    exists    to 
point    out     tiiat     that 
ccH't'iili'ic    old     ^c'litk'- 
inaii,  "  The  \N'orld, '  is 
sueli  a  eui*i()iislyslia})ed 
old  nentleiiiaii  that  the 
most  pei't'eet  eoats  and 
waisteoats  have  an  ex- 
traordinary way  of 
leaving  parts   of    him 
out,  sometimes  whole 
let^s  and  arms,  the  existence  of  wliieli  the  tailor  had  not  suspected. 
And  as  surely  as  there  arises  a  consistent  theory  of  life  which  seems 
to  gi\e  a  whole  plan  ot  it.  tliere  will  appear  within  a  score  or  two 
of  years  a  nreat   Irratioiialist   to   tell  the  world   of  stran<;e   seas  and 
forests  ^^hi(•ll  arc  nowhere  down  on  the  niaj).     The  <)reat  movement 
of  the  ei.^htccnth  and   nineteenth  centuries,  which  rose  to  its  height 
in    the    French    Uevolution    and   the    Positivist    ])hilos()phy,  was  the 
last  great  Kalionalistic   synthesis.      The  inevitahle   Irrationalist  Avho 

followed  it  was  Thomas 
Carlyle.  This  is  the 
first  and  most  essential 
view  of  his  position. 

In  Older  to  ex- 
j)lain  the  matter  more 
clearly,  it  is  necessary 
to  recur  to  our  image 
of  the  old  gentleman 
^vh()m  no  tailor  could 
tit.     Not  only  do  the 

Fyrw  a  fh.-^io  hy  C.   C.   X.tyu-r.   ^T.^.  *  4-1    •      1 

THE  ROOM   AT  ARCH    HOUSE  IN'  WHICH   CARIAI.E  WAS  BORN         tailOl'S      tClKl      tO     tllinK 


THOMAS   CAULYLE 


J-'roin  n //loto  by  C.  C.  Napier,   M.A. 

MAINHILL   FARM 
The  Home  of  Carlyle's  Parents  from  1815  to  1825 


that  clothes  can  be 
made  to  tit  the  old 
i^entlenian,  hut  they 
tend  \  eryot'ten to  think 
that  the  whole  ques- 
tion is  a  question  of 
clothes.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, the  Popes  and 
l?()lini»])rokcs  of  the 
earlier      eighteenth 

century  tried  to  make 
man  a  purer  symbol 
of  civilisation.  Tliey  tried  to  pluck  from  him  altogether  his  love  of 
the  savage  and  })rinie\al.  as  they  might  have  plucked  off  a  shaggy  wig 
from  the  old  gentleman  in  order  to  put  on  a  powdered  one.  A  by- 
stander of  the  name  of  15yron.  who  was  indeed  none  other  than  the 
inevitable  Irrationalist,  startled  them  by  pointing  out  that  the  shaggy 
object  was  not  a  wig  at  all,  but  the  poor  old  gentleman's  own  hair ; 
that,  in  otiier  words,  the  love  of  the  savage,  the  primeval,  the  lonely 
and  unsociable,  was  a  ])art  of  man,  and  it  was  their  business  to  recog- 
nise it.  Tlien  arose 
the  new  fashion  in  cos- 
mic clothes,  which  did 
recognise  this  natm-al 
element.  Rousseau 
and  Shelley  took  the 
old  gentleman  in  hand, 
and  provided  him 
with  spring-like  gar- 
ments,   coloured    like 

l-rom   .  fhoto  hy  J.   r.Urick,  E,itnhurgh  tllC  clouds  of  mOriling. 

HODDAM   HII.L  ,j  i-         4.1      • 

Wliere  Carlyle  lived  in   iSj;  y^\\\  OUC         OI  tllCU* 


THOMAS     CARLYLE 

F>'o>n  a 

portrait  hy 

Daniel  Maclise,  R.A. 

nmu  in  the 

Victoria 

and 
Albert 
Jiluseutii 

Rischgitz  Collection 


THOMAS    (  AKLVr.K 


A  PORTRAIT  OF  CAR- 
LYLE  ENGRAVED  1!V 
F.  CROLL  FROM  A 
DAGUERREOTYPE  BY 
HEARD 

Ribchgitz  Collection 


principles  was  the  absolute  principle  of  equality.  Finding,  therefore, 
that  tlie  old  gentleman  was  wearing  a  curiously  shaped  hat,  com- 
pounded of  crown,  coronet,  and  mitre,  tlie  great  hat  of  Godhood, 
kingliood,  and  superiority,  they  proceeded,  in  order  to  make  him 
more  natural,  to  knock  it  off;  and  to  them  suddenly  appeared  the 
inevitable  Irrationalist,  a  Scotcli  gentleman  from  Dumfriesshire,  who, 
nddressing  them  politely,  said,  "You  believe  tliat  that  regal  object 
you  are  knocking  off  is  liis  liat :  believe  me,  gentlemen,  it  is  his  head. 
Such  mistakes  will  occur  after  a  hasty  inspection,  })ut  that  kingship  is 
really  a  part  of  tlie  old  gentleman,  and  it  is  your  business  to  recognise 


THOMAS  CAUL^  r.E 


THOMAS   CARLYLE 

From  a  sketch  by  Count 
D'Oi-sayiiZ^c)) 

Riscligitz  Collection 


Y 


it"  As  Byron  had  come,  just  as  the  ckssic  edifice  of  pohte  deism  liad 
been  completed,  to  point  out  that  the  fact  remained  that  lie,  Byron,  did 
prefer  walking  by  the  seashore  to  taking  tea  in  tlie  garden,  so  Carlyle 
appeared,  just  as  the  austere  temple  of  political  equality  was  erected, 
to  point  out  that  the  ftict  remained  that  he  did  think  many  people 
a  great  deal  better  than  himself,  and  very  many  people  a  great  deal 
worse.  Thus,  then,  as  the  asserter  of  the  natural  character  of  king- 
ship against  the  natural  character  of  equality,  it  is  that  Thomas  Carlyle 
primarily  stands  twenty-one  years  after  his  death. 

Now  I  do  not  think,  as  T  shall  show  later,  that  Carlyle  c\cr  really 


THOMAS    CAlU.Vr.E 


CARLYLE'S       FIRST 

EDINHURGH 

LODGING  IN  SIMON 

SQUARE 

F)-o»i    a  photograph    hy 

Mr.   'J'hoiiias  Clark, 

Edinburgk 


understood  tlie  true  doctrine  of  equality ;  but  it  is  certainly  at 
least  equally  true  tliat  tlie  egalitarians  and  tlie  ordinary  opponents 
of  Carlyle  liave  ne\er  done  the  least  justice  to  Carlyle's  doctrine 
of  liero-worsliip.  The  usual  theory  is  that  he  believed  in  a  race  of 
arrogant  strong  men,  brutally  self-sufficient  and  brazenly  indifferent 
to  etliical  limits,  and  that  he  wanted  these  men  to  frighten  and 
dominate  the  populace  as  a  keeper  or  a  doctor  frightens  and  dominates 
the  lunatic  in  a  cell.  It  is  not  too  nnicli  to  say  that  there  is  scarcely 
a  trace  in  Carlyle's  works  of  this  barbarous  and  ridiculous  idea.  If 
there  be  a  trace  of  it  here  and  there,  it  is  mere  explosion  of  personal 
ill-temj)er,  and  has  nothing  Avhatever  in  common  with  Carlyle's 
deliberate  theory  of  the  hero.  His  theory  of  the  hero  was  that  he  was 
a  man  whom  men  followed,  not  because  they  could  not  help  fearing, 
l)ut  because  they  could  not  help  loving  him.  His  theory,  right  or 
urong.    was   that   when   a   man    was    your   suj)crior   vou   were  acting 


THOMAS    CAHI.YLE 


I,    MORAY     STREET 

(NOW   SPEY 

STREET),  LEITH 

WALK,  EDINBURGH 

From  a  photograph  by 

Mr.  Thomas  Clark, 

Edinburgh 


naturally  in  looking  up  to  him,  and  were  therefore  happy ;  that  you 
were  acting  unnaturally  in  equalising  yourself  with  him,  and  Mere 
therefore  unhappy.  JVIost  people,  except  those  solemn  persons  who 
are  called  with  some  humour  free-thinkers,  would  agree,  for  instance, 
that  the  worship  of  God  was  a  human  function,  and  therefore  gaAC 
pleasure  to  the  performer  of  it,  like  eating  or  taking  exercise.  Xow 
Carlyle  held,  rightly  or  wrongly,  that  the  worship  of  man,  of  the  great 
man,  was  also  a  human  function,  and  therefore  ga^'e  pleasure  to  tlie 
performer  of  it.  It  all  depends  upon  whether  we  do  take  an  egalitarian 
or  an  aristocratic  view  of  the  spiritual  world.  If  the  spiritual  world  is 
based  upon  equality,  then,  no  doubt,  to  keep  a  man  in  an  inferior 
position  must  spiritually  depress  and  degrade  liim  ;  but  if  beings  in 
the  spiritual  world  have  higlier  and  lower  functions,  it  is  obvious  that 
it  is  equally  depressing  and  degrading  to  a  man  to  tal<c  him  out  of  his 
position  and  make  him  either  a  citizen  or  an  emperor. 


10 


THOMAS    CAHT.VLK 


THOMAS   CARLVI.E 

l-'ioin  a  photo  hy  the 
London  Stc>Tcsco/>ic  Co. 


Moreover,  the  real  practical  truth  tluit  uiKlerlay  Carlylc's  gospel 
of  the  hero  has  in  other  ways  been  misunderstood.  The  general 
idea  is  that  Carlyle  thought  tliat,  if  a  man  were  only  al)le,  every- 
thino-  was  to  be  excused  to  him.  If  Carlyle,  even  at  anv  moment, 
thou'dit  this,  it  can  only  be  said  tliat  for  that  moment  Carlyle  was 
a  fool,  as  many  able  men  may  lia])pcn  to  be.  But,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  what  Carlyle  meant  was  something  much  sounder.  To  say 
that  any  man  may  tyrannise  so  long  as  lie  is  able,  is  as  ridiculous 
as  saying  that  any  man  may  knock  people  down  so  long  as  he  is 
six  feet  higii.      Hut  iii  urging  this  very  obvious  i'act  the  opponents  of 


TITOISrAS   CAULVLK 


11 


From  a  photo  hy  C  G.   yapior,  M.A. 

MRS.   CARLYLE'S    BIRTHPLAai 
Dr.  Welsh's  House  at  Haddington. 


Carlyle  too  oftcMi  foi;L»"et 
ji  simpler  truth  at  tlic 
hack  of  the  Carlyle 
gospel.  It  is  that,  while 
in  one  sense  the  same 
moral  test  is  to  be  ap- 
plied to  all  men,  there 
does  remain  in  ordinary 
charitable  practice  n 
very  great  difference 
between  the  people  who 
consider  it  necessary  to 
see  some  definite  thing 
done  before  they  die, 
and  the  people  who  cheerfully  admit  that  two  hundred  years  will 
scarcely  bring  what  they  require,  and  that  meanwhile  they  desire  to 
do  nothing.  A  Tolstoian  anarchist  who  thinks  that  men  should  be 
morally  persuaded  for  the  next  two  or  three  centuries  to  give  up 
every  kind  of  physical 
compulsion  may,  it  is 
quite  conceivable,  be 
than  the 
Home  Secre- 
tary who  finds  himself 
responsible  for  the  sup- 
pression of  a  riot  in 
IManchester ;  but  siu-ely 
it  is  patently  ridiculous 
to  say  that  it  is  just  as 
much  to  the  anarchist's 
credit  that  he  avoids 
Manchester 


more    right 


English 


shooting 


From  a  photo  by  R 


THE   HOUSE    IN    WHICH    CAKl.VLE   LIVED    WHILST  TE.VCHING 
AT   KIRKCALDY   SCHOOL 


12 


THOMAS    CARI.YLE 


A  far. 11  ill  llie  neighbourhood  of  Ecclefechan  to  which  the  Carlyles  removed 
from  Mainhill  in  1826 


workmen  as  it  would 
l)c  to  the  Home  Secre- 
tary's credit  if  he 
a\()ided  sliootiii<>-  them. 
It  would  he  equally 
ridiculous  to  say  that, 
if  the  Home  Secretary 
conceived  it  necessary 
to  shoot  them,  from  a 
sense  of  responsihility, 
that  his  action,  even  if 
wrong,  was  really  as 
M  rong  as  the  conduct  of  a  Tolstoian  who  should  shoot  them  without 
any  reason  at  all.  In  this  sense,  therefore,  there  is  really  a  different 
test,  and  a  perfectly  fair  one,  for  men  of  action  and  for  men  of 
ahstract  theories  and  remote  hopes. 

Now,  it  nuist  definitely  he  set  to  the  credit  of  men  like  Cromwell 
and  INl ii-aheau,  that  they  were  imdoidjtedly  o})posed  to  and  cnilar- 
rassed  hy  men  wliose  projects,  even  in  their  own  eyes,  were  scarcely 

a  part  of  practical 
politics.  These  men 
exist  in  every  country 
and  in  e\'ery  age.  They 
are  wilfully  and  etern- 
ally in  opposition. 
They  do  not  agree 
sufficiently  with  the 
active  ])owers  even  to 
argue  with  them  with 
any  iirofit.     Their  ideal 

J-roiii  a  photo  by  J.   J'fin  :,  ':,    i:ii:itiuy :r.  '       ' 

TKMPLAND,   NEAR  THORNHILL,   DUMFRIESSHIRl!,  is       SO       fai"       a\\aV       that 

Thomas  Carlyle  married  Jane  Haillie  Welsh  on  October  17th,   1826,  *'  ,  1  i  .  1        • 

Templand,  Mrs.  Welsh's  residence  thCV   (lO    UOt    CN  CIl    (ICSU'C 


I'rovi  the  painting  by  J.  McNeill  Whistler 

THOMAS   CARLYLE 

(Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  T.  &  R.   Annan  &  Sons,  by  courtesy 
of  the  Glasgow  Corporation) 


14 


THOMAS   CARLYLK 


it  with  any  iinincdiatc  lumber.  TIicv  coimt  it  a  pleasant  and  natural 
tiling"  to  live  and  die  in  rcxolt.  They  aic  ready  to  he  eritics,  they 
are  ready  to  he  martyrs,  they  arc  eniphatieally  not  ready  to  be 
rulers.  In  tliis  way  Cromwell,  eonsiderinn"  how  he  mii»ht  make  some 
English  polity  out  of  a  chaos  of  Englisli  parties,  had  to  ar<»uc  for 
hours  together  with  Fifth  JNIonarchy  men,  to  whom  the  vital  question 
was  whctlicr  the  children  of  mahgnants  should  not  be  slain,  and 
whether  a  man  wlio  was  caught  swearing  should  not  be  stoned  to 
death.  In  this  way  JNlirabeau,  striving  to  keep  the  tradition  of 
French  civilisation  intact  amid  a  hundred  essential  reforms,  found 
his  way  blocked  by  men  who  insisted  on  discussing  whether  in  the 
ideal  commonwealth  men  would  believe  in  inunortality,  or  go  through 


From  a  filioto.  by  Mr.   Thomas  Clark,  Edinburgh 

21,   COMKLY   BANK,    EDINHURC.H 
Carlylc  and  his  wife  lived  at  Comely  Bank  for  eighteen  months  after  llicir  marriage 


THOMAS    CARLYLE 


15 


a  rite  of  marriage.  Now,  wliilc  fully  (rrantin<r  that  both  types  have  an 
eternal  value,  it  is  certainly  not  just  tliat  precisely  the  same  ethical 
test  should  be  ap})lied  to  Cromwell  and  the  Fifth  Monarchy  men, 
to  JNIirabeau  and  the  worshipper  of  pure  reason.     It  is  not  just  that  we 


From  a  'a'ood  engravin§;  by  Pearson  of  Sir  J.  E.  Boehin's  gold  iiicdaHion. 
THOMAS   CARLYLE 
(Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Chapman  and  Hall) 

should  judge  in  precisely  the  same  way  the  pace  of  a  butcher's  cart 
which  is  obliged  to  get  to  Pimlico,  and  the  pace  of  a  butcher's 
cart  which  is  designed  at  some  time  or  other  to  reach  the  site  of 
the  Garden  of  Eden.  It  is  not  just  that  we  should  judge  in  the  same 
way  the  man   who  is  simply  anxious  to  erect  a  parisli  pump,   and 


16 


THOMAS   CARLVLE 


the  ()p})onent  of  the  pump, 
wlio  looks  forward  to  a 
day  when  there  shall  not 
only  ])e  no  pump,  but  no 
parish.  The  man  of  action, 
then,  really  has  in  this 
sane  and  limited  sense  a 
chiim  to  a  peculiar  kind 
of  allowance,  in  that  it  is 
of  vital  necessity  to  him 
that  a  certain  limited 
grievance  should  be  re- 
moved. It  is  easy  enough 
to  be  the  man  Avho  lives 
in  a  contented  impotence; 
the  man  who  luxuriates  in 
an  endless  and  satisfied 
defeat.  He  does  not  desire 
to  be  effective ;  he  only 
desires  to  be  right.  He 
does  not  desire  passionately 
that  something  should  be 
done  ;  he  only  desires  that 
it  should  be  triumphantly  proved  to  be  necessary. 

This  is  the  real  contribution  of  Carlyle  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
man  of  action.  He  revealed,  entirely  justly,  and  entirely  to  the 
profit  of  us  all,  the  pathos  of  the  practical  man.  He  made  us 
feel,  what  is  profoundly  true,  that  the  tragedy  of  the  death  of  ISIary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  is  nothing  to  the  tragedy  of  the  death  of  Eliza])eth  : 
that  the  tragedy  of  the  death  of  Cluirles  T.  is  nothing  to  the 
tragedy  of  the  death  of  Cromwell.  A  man  like  Charles  I.  died 
triumphantly ;    he    did    not    indeed    die    as    a    martyr,   but    he  died 


Front  a  photo  by  the  London  ::>tcrcoscopic  Lo. 

THOMAS  CARLYLE    ABOUT   i860 


THOMAS   CAULVr>E 


17 


as  soinetliing  wliich  is  niiich  more  awful  a;i(l  exceptional  -a  con- 
sistent man.  He  was  worse  than  a  tyrant,  he  was  a  l()<rician.  Hut 
a  man  like  Cromwell  is  in  a  nuich  harder  case,  for  he  does  not 
wish  to  die  and  be  a  spectacle,  l)ut  to  li\e  and  be  a  force.  He  has 
to  break  alto<j;ether  with  the  splendid  lo^ic  of  martyrdom.  He 
has  to  eat  his  own  words  for  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper.  He  has 
to  outlive  a  hundred  incarnations,  and  always  reject  tiie  last ;  liis 
progress  is  like  that  unnerving  initiation  in  the  wild  tale  of  Tom 
Moores,  in  which  the  disciple  had  to  climb  up  a  stone  stairway 
into  the  sky,  every  step  of  which  fell  away  the  moment  his  foot 
had  left  it.  This  is  the  only  genuine  truth  that  Carlyle  brought 
from  his  study  of  strong  men.  If  ever  he  said  that  we  must 
blindly  obey  the  strong 
man,  he  was  merely 
angry  and  personal, 
and  untrue  to  his 
essentially  generous 
and  humane  spirit. 
When  he  said  that  we 
must  re^'erence  the 
strong  man  he  some- 
times expressed  him- 
self with  a  certain 
heated  confusion,  _  and 
left  it  doubtful  whether 
he  meant  that  we 
should  reverence  the 
strong  man  as  we  re- 
spect Christ,  or  merely 
as  we  respect  Sandow. 
But  we  should  all 
agree  with  him  in  liis 


Jiroin  a  photo  by  -Elliott  &r'  Fry 

THOMAS   CARLVLE,  1S65 


18 


THOMAS    CARLYLE 


essential  and  eternal  con- 
tril)ution — that  we  sliould 
pity  the  strong  man  more 
tlian  an  idiot  or  a  cripple. 
It  may  be  said  that 
there  is  a  certain  incon- 
sistency between  tliese 
two  justifications  of 
C'arlyle's  hero  -  worship  : 
that  we  cannot  at  tlic 
same  time  respect  a  man 
because  lie  is  above  us  in 
a  definite  spiritual  order, 
and  because  he  is  in  wliat 
is  popularly  called  a  hole; 
that  M'e  cannot  at  once 
reverence  JNlirabeau  be- 
cause he  was  strong  and 
because  he  was  weak. 
Tliis  kind  of  inconsistency 
does  exist  in  Carlyle ;  it 
is,  T  may  say  with  all  reverence  and  with  all  certainty,  the  eternal  and 
inevitable  inconsistency  which  characterises  those  who  receive  divine 
revelations.     The  larger  world,  which  our  systems  attempt  to  explain 

and     chieHv    succeed 

? 


KiM.l.jitz  Collection 


\^r 


in  hiding,  must,  when 

it      breaks      tlirough 

upon   us,  take  forms 

which    appear    to   be    (l(,jru^       cji^ 

conflicting.        The 

spiritual   world    is  so 

rich  that  it  is  varied  ; 


1.     UrLyC,  '^.    CaJ-^U^ 


FACSIMILES  OF 
CAKI.Vl.KS  SUINATURE 

(Reproiluceil  liy  kind 
permission  of  Messrs. 
Chapman     &      Hall 


THOINIAS    (  AllLVLK 


19 


I'roin  a  I'i. 


ilrick,  Kdiiibufi^Ji 

CRAIGENPUnOCK 
Carlyle's  residence  from  1828  to  1834 


SO  varied  that  it  is  iii- 
ooiisistent.  Tliat  is 
why  so  many  saints 
and  great  doctors  of 
rehgion  liave  pinned 
tlieir  faith  to  paradoxes 
like  the  "  Credo  Quia 
Impossibile,"  the  great 
theological  paradoxes 
which  are  so  mucli 
more  dazzling  and 
daring  tlian  the  para- 
doxes of  the  modern  JJanciir.  The  supreme  glory  of  Carlyle  Avas 
tliat  h.e  lieard  the  veritable  voices  of  the  Cosmos.  He  left  it  to 
others  to  attune  them  into  an  orchestra.  Sometimes  the  truth  lie 
heard  was  this  truth,  that  some  men  are  to  be  commanded  and 
some  obeyed ;  sometimes  that  deeper  and  more  democratic  truth 
that  all  men  are  above  all  things  to  be  pitied. 

It  w^ill  be  found  relevant  to  what  I  have  to  say  hereafter  to  remark 
at  this  point  that  I  do 
not  myself  "^accept 
Carlyle's  conception  of 
the  spiritual  world  as 
■exhaustive.  I  believe 
in  the  essence  of  the 
old  doctrine  of  equality , 
because  it  appears  to 
me  to  residt  from  all 
conceptions  of  the 
divinity  of  man.  Of 
course  there  are  in- 
equalities, and  obvious 


^^^1 

1 

1 

1 

x\ 

^7     ■ 

&..-.,.       ^^ 

w 

~ .  ^■^^^^^■^^■s 

^l^vafiiv- .  .V. 

'"IjIs 

* 

^?Ss%«%i|c^ 

I'roin  a  pluno  ry  J .    I'.t: 

PORTRAIT   uKuLi'    1AK1..\   AT    KIRKCALDY 
Thomas  Carlyle,  liis  niece,  liis  brother,  and  I'rovost  Swan 


•20 


THOMAS    CAKLVLE 


ones,  but  tlH)ii<>li  tliL'V  arc  not  insinnific-ant  positively,  they  are 
insi<'nitieant  eoinparatively.  If  men  are  all  really  the  iina<res  of  (lod, 
to  talk  about  their  differences  has  its  sioniHc-auce.  but  only  a))()ut  the 
same  sionitieance  whieh  may  be  found  in  talkin<r  about  the  respeetive 
heiiihts  of  twenty  men,  all  of  whom  have  received  the  Metoria  Cross, 
or  the  respeetive  len<j^th  of  the  moustaches  of  twenty  men.  all  of  whom 
have  died  to  save  their  fellow-creatures.  In  c()m})arison  with  the 
point  in  wliich  they  are  equal,  the  point  in  which  they  are  unequal 
is  not  merely  decidedly,  but  almost  infinitely,  insignificant.  IJut  my 
reason   for  indicatini^^  my  own  opinion  on  the  matter,  at  this  ]X)int, 

is  a  definite  one.  Carlyle's 
\  iew  of  equality  does  not 
happen  to  be  mine  ;  but  it  has 
an  absolute  ri<^ht  to  l)e  stated 
justly,  and  to  l)e  stated  from 
Carlyle's  point  of  view.  It  was 
not  a  ])rutal  fear  or  a  mean 
worship  of  force  :  it  was  a 
serious  belief  that  some  found 
blessedness  in  commanding, 
and  some  in  obeying.  Xow 
this  kind  of  intellectual  justice 
was  the  one  great  (juality 
which  was  lacking  in  Carlyle 
himself  He  would  not  consent 
to  listen  to  llousseau's  gos])el, 
as  I  have  suiifsfested  that  we 
should  listen  to  Carlyle's  gospel. 
He  would  not  put  Rousseau's 

1  ,c>::   .,   U,,.,-.of!.t  hrst  in   tl:,-   X.,.',.;,.,/  forLait  C.altcy,  gOSllcl      fVolU      l^OUSSCau's     lloiut 

by  Sir  J.   !■:.  ISoelini,  K.A.  .       . 

THOMAS  CARLVLR  of  vicw.     .Vud  conscqucntly  to 

(Reproduced  from  "  Past  and  Present,"  by  kind  permii-sion  ,  ii'1'1  1  „«. 

of  Messrs.  J.  M.  Dent  &  Co.)  tlic  cud  oi  lus  days  lic    ne\  or 


THOMAS    CAHLVLK 


21 


understood      any       o()sj)cl       except 
Carlyle's  o()s|)cl. 

W'lien  a  literary  in:in  is  known 
to  luive  l)een  almost  a  monster  of 
industry,  when  he  has  ])roduced  a 
eolossal  epie  like  "  Fredei-ick  tlie 
(ireat"  on  the  dullest  of  all  earthly 
suhjeets — Ciermany  in  the  eighteenth 
eentury — when  he  has  ])iled  up  all 
the  eomplieated  material  of  the 
history  of  the  Freneh  llevolution, 
lost  it,  and  by  a  portent  of  heroism 
piled  it  all   up  a^ain  ;  when   he  has 


Jrioiii  a  photo  by  J ,  Fat 

CARLYLE'S  HOUSE  AT  5  (iio^v  24),  CHEYNE 
ROW,  CHELSEA 

achieved  sueh  masterpieees  of 
research  as  the  discovery  of 
sense  in  Cromwell's  speeches, 
and  good  qualities  in  Frederick 
of  Prussia :  when  an  author 
has  done  all  this,  it  may  seem  a 
singular  comment  upon  him  to 
say  that  his  main  characteristic 
Avas  a  lack  of  patience.  But 
this  was  in  reality  the  chief 
weakness,  in  fact  the  only  real 
weakness,  of  Carlyle  as  a  moral- 
ist     It  is  very  much   easier  to  ^^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^,  ^ 

have    what    may    be    called    moral      fRe,,rocIucecl  by  klml  permission  of  Messrs. 


I.E 

Chapman  am! 


Hall) 


oo 


THOMAS    C AKLVLE 


patience  or  mental  patience  tlian  to  liave  sonictliino-  wliicli  may  ])est 
1)C  (lcscri})cd  as  spiritual  patience.  Carlyle  was  ])atient  witli  facts,  dates^ 
documents,  int()lcial)ly  wearisome  memoirs;  hut  lie  was  not  patient 
with  tlie  soul  of  man.  He  was  not  patient  with  ideas,  theories^ 
tendencies,  outside  iiis  own  pliilosophy.  He  never  undei'stood.  and 
therefore  persistently  under\alucd.  the  real  meanin<>-  of  the  idea  of 
liherty,  whicli  is  a  faith  in  the  ^rowtli  and  life  of  tlie  human  mind: 
\a^nie  indeed  in  its  nature,  hut  transcend in<»-  in  its  ma<>iiitude  even 
our  faitli  in  our  own  faiths.  He  was  something-  of  a  Tory,  something 
of  a  Sans-culottc,  somctliiui;- of  a  Puritan,  something  of  an  Imperialist, 
.something  oi  a  Socialist;  hut  lie  w;is  ne\  er,  even  for  a  single  moment. 


THOMAS    CAKLVLK 


23 


a  Libcnil.      He  did  not  believe  us  the  Lihcral  l)clicvcs,  fiist   iiuked 
in  his  own  trutli,  whicli  in  his  eyes  is  pure  truth,  ))ut  beyond  tliat 
also  in  tliat  niii>htier  truth  whieh  is  made  up  of  a  milhon  hes. 
And  this  spiritual  inipatienee  of  Carlyle  lias  left  its  peeuliar  mark 


THE 

GARDEN 

AT 

No.  5, 

CHEYNE 

ROW 


'/   a  ((niii'iiix   iy   A',  y,   .Sullh'tin 

THOMAS  CARLYLE 

(Reprcxluced  from  the  illustrated  "Sartor  Resartus,"  liy  klntl  permission 
Messrs.  George  I'ell  iS:  Sons) 


THOMAS    CARLVLE 


25 


in  the  only  delect  whicli   can  really 

be   found    in    Iiis    liistorieal    Morks. 

Of  tliciistonisliini*-  power  and  Innnour 

and    poignancy    of   those    historical 

works  1   think  it  scarcely  necessary 

to  speak.     A  man  nuist  have  a  a  ery 

poor  literary  sense  who  can  read  one 

of  Carlyle's  sliq'hter  sketclies,  such  as 

"  The  Diamond  Necklace,"  and  not 

feel  that  he   has   at  the  same  time 

to    deal    Avith    one    of   the    greatest 

satirists,  ojie  of  the  greatest  mystics, 

and  incomparably  one  of  the  finest 

story-tellers  in  the  world.     No  his- 
torian  ever  realised   so  strongly  the 

recondite  and  ill-digested  fact  that 
history  has  consisted  of  human  beings, 
each  isolated,  each  vacillating,  each 
living  in  an  eternal  present ;  or,  in 
other  Avords,  that  history  has  not 
consisted  of  crowds,  or  kings,  or  Acts 
of  Parliament,  or  systems  of  government,  or  articles  of  belief.  And 
Carlyle  has,  moreover,  introduced  into  the  philosophy  of  history  one 
element  which  had  been  absent  from  it  since  the  Avriting  of  the  Old 
Testament — the  element  of  something  w^hich  can  only  be  called  humom- 
in  the  just  government  of  the  universe.  "He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens 
shall  laugh  them  to  scorn,  the  I^ord  shall  have  them  in  derision,"  is  a 
note  that  is  struck  again  in  Carlyle  for  the  first  time  after  two 
thousand  years.  It  is  the  note  of  the  sarcasm  of  Pro\idence.  Any 
one  who  will  read  those  admirable  chapters  of  Ciirlyle  on  Chartism 
will  realise  that,  while  all  other  humanitarians  were  insisting  upon 
the  cruelty  or  the  inconsistency  or  the  barbarism  of  neglecting  the 


^K 

^n^!^^  ■   *vT!^T^H^H 

^^^^' '  i*tfl 

;r.  Koheitson  Nicoll,  LL.D. 
MRS.  CARLYLE  ABOUT  1864 


loiii  a  pnoto  Oy  G.  C.  yiipicr  M.A. 

CARLYLES  GRAVE  AT    ECCLEFECHAN 
Thomas  Carlyle  died  on  February  5th,   18S1 


THOMAS    CAKLYLE 

pro])lcni  of  lal)()'.ii% 
Carlyle  is  rather  filled 
with  a  kind  of  almost 
eelestial  astonishiiieiit 
at  the  absurdity  of 
nc'>leetini»'  it. 

Hut  a  definite 
defeet  there  is,  as  I 
have  su«><»ested,  in 
Carlyle,  eonsidered  r.s 
an  historian,  and  it 
flows  direetly  from  that 
real  moral  defeet  in  his  nature,  an  impatienee  with  other  men's  ideas. 
In  judgin<>-  of  men  as  men,  he  was  not  only  quiek  and  graphie  and 
eorreet,  but  in  the  main  essentially  genial  and  magnanimous.  Only  a 
very  superfieial  eritie  will  think  that  Carlyle  was  misanthropie  beeause 
he  was  surly.  There  is  very  mueh  more  real  sympathy  with  human 
problems  and  temptations  in  a  page  of  this  shaggy  old  maleontent 
than  in  whole  libraries  of  eonstitutional  history  by  dapper  and  polite 
rationalists,  who  treat  men  as  automata,   and  put  their  virtues  and 

viees  into  se])arate 
pigeonholes.  If  I  had 
made  a  mistake  or 
eommitted  a  sin  that 
l.ad  any  sort  of  human 
eharaeter  about  it,  I 
would  very  much 
rather  fall  into  tlie 
hands  of  Carlyle  than 
into      tlie     hands      of 

Fiom  a  photo  hy  J.  F.  Goy.ion,  Ha.Uin-ton  ^  I  r.        Ilallani        Or      j\l  r. 

MRS.  CAUI.VI.E'.S   GRAVE    IN    HAUDINGTOX   CHURCH  .  M'll       1>     i^        1   M 

M     r  ^^  A•^       k   ■\     ,    ^^  JamesiMil.    l5ut  Willie 

Mrs.  Carlyle  died  on   April  21st,  1S66 


From  the  portrait  painted  by  Sir  J.   E.  MUlais,   P.K.A.,/or  Mr.  J.  A.  J'rotaic  in  1S77 

THOMAS    CARLYI.E 
III  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.     Kisclis'ti^  Collection. 


28 


THOMAS    CARLVLE 


THE   GROUND-FLOOR   ROOMS   AT   5,   CrihV.NK    ROW   (i.c-) 
(Reproduced  from  Reginald  Blunt's  "  Historical  Handbook  to  Chelsea,"  by  kind  permission  of  the  author) 

Carlyle  did  realise  tlie  fact  tliat  every  man  earries  about  witli  him  his 
own  hfe  and  atmosphere,  lie  did  not  realise  that  other  truth,  that  every 
man  carries  about  with  him  his  own  theory  of  the  world.  Eaeh  one 
of  us  is  living  in  a  separate  Cosmos.  'J'he  theory  of  life  held  by 
one  man  never  corresponds  exaetly  to  that  held  by  another.  The 
whole  of  a  iiKin's  oj)inions,  morals,  tastes,  manners,  hobbies,  Avork 
))a(k  eventually  to  some  picture  of  existence  itself  which,  whether  it 
be  a  paradise  or  a  battle-field,  or  a  school  or  a  chaos,  is  not  precisely 
tliesame  picture  of  existence  which  lies  at  the  back  of  any  other  bruin. 
Carlyle  had  not  fully  realiiicd  that  it  was  a  <*ase  of  one  man,  one 
Cosmos.  Consequently,  he  devoted  himself  to  askin<^  what  place  any 
man.  say  Robespierre  or  Shelley,  occupied  in  Carlyle's  Cosmos.  It 
never  occurred  to  him  sufficiently  clearly  to  ask  what  place  Shelley 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^v*  ^                a^^K                   '^^d^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 

- 

^^^^Ki^'li'^l^«^---^ril!iiJMu         ..J^^^^^B^tt^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

( 

Bill 

' 

i'hoto  iy  Ircderkfi  Hoi  Iyer 

THOMAS    CARLYLK,   ^  t.   73 

From  the  painting  by  G.   F.  Watts,  R.A.,  now  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery 

THOMAS    CAULVLE 


;{i 


THE   SOUND-PROOF   STUDY  AT   CHEYNE   ROW   IN   1900,   SHOWING   THE   DOUBLE   WALLS 

(Reproduced  from  Reginald  Blunts  "Historical  Handbook  to  Chelsea,"  by  kind  permission 

of  the  author) 

occupied  ill  Shelley's  Cosmos,  or  Robespierre  in  llobespierre's  Cosmos. 
Not  feeling  the  need  of  this,  he  never  studied,  he  never  really  hstencd 
to,  Shelley's  philosophy  or  Robespierre's  philosophy.  Here,  after  a 
somewhat  long  circuit,  we  have  arrived  at  the  one  serious  deficiency 
in  Carlyle's  histories,  a  neglect  to  realise  the  importance  of  theory 
and  of  alternative  theories  in  human  affairs. 

The  standing  example  of  this  is  the  "History  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution." Carlyle's  conception  of  the  Frencli  Revolution  is  simply  and 
absolutely  that  of  an  elemental  outbreak,  an  explosion  of  nature  in 
history,  an  earthquake  in  the  moral  world.  Human  nature,  Carlyle 
seems  to  tell  us,  had  been  stifled  more  and  more  in  the  wrappini.^s 
of  artificiality,  until,  wlien  its  condition  had  just  passed  the  tolerable. 


:j2 


THOMAS    CAULVLE 


rHK    KIICHtN    AT    Nm.    5,    CUKVNK   ROW  (1900) 
(Reprodijced  from  Reginald  Blunts  "Historical  Handbook  to  Chelsea,"  by  kind  permission  of  the  author) 

^afr<,red,  blinded,   deaf,  and   ignorant  of  what  it  really  wanted,  ])y  a 
gigantie  niuseular  effort  it  burst  its  bonds. 

So  far  as  it  goes,  that  is  perfectly  true  of  the  French  llexolu- 
tion  ;  but  only  so  far  as  it  goes.  The  French  Ke\"olution  was 
a  sudden  starting  from  slumber  of  that  terrible  spirit  of  man 
which  sleej)s  thiough  the  greater  number  of  the  centuries ;  and 
C'arlyle  aj)preeiates  this,  and  describes  it  more  powerfully  and 
fearfully  than  any  human  historian.  Ijccause  this  idea  of  the  spirit 
of  man  breaking  tiirougli  fornuihi'  and  building  again  on  funda- 
mentals was  a  part  of  his  own  })liil()so])hical  theory,  and  therefore 
he  understood  it.  But  he  never,  as  I  ha\e  said,  took  any  real 
trouble  to  understand  other  peoples  philosophical  theories.  And 
he   did  not   realise   the   other   fact    about  the   French   Revolution — 


THOMAS    CAIU.VLK 


33 


CARLYLE'S    WRITING-DESK   AND   CHAIR 
(Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  Mr.   Reg'nald  Blunt) 

the  fact  tliat  it  was  not  merely  an  elementary  outbreah,  hut  was 
also  a  great  doctrinal  movement.  It  is  an  astonishing  thing  that 
Carlyle's  "  French  lle\'olution "  contrives  to  be  as  admirable  and  as 
accurate  a  history  as  it  is,  while  from  one  end  to  the  other  there  is 
hardly  a  suggestion  that  he  comprehended  the  moral  and  political 
theories  which  were  the  guiding  stars  of  the  French  Revolutionists. 
It  was  not  necessary  that  he  should  agree  with  them,  but  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  be  interested  in  them  ;  nay,  in  order  that 
he  should  write  a  perfect  history  of  their  developments,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  he  should  admire  them.  The  truly  impartial  historian  is 
not  he  who  is  enthusiastic  for  neither  side  in  a  historic  struggle : 
that  method  was  adopted  by  the  rationalistic  historians  of  the 
Hallam  type,   and   resulted    in  the  dullest  and    thinnest   and    most 

3 


34  THOMAS    CAllLYLE 

essentially  false  chronicles  that  were  ever  compiled  about  mankind. 
The  truly  impartial  historian  is  he  who  is  cntluisiastic  for  both  sides. 
He  holds  in  his  heart  a  hundred  fanaticisms.  The  truly  philosophical 
historian  docs  not  ])atronisc  Cromwell  and  pat  the  Kin<j^  on  the  head, 
as  Hallam  does;  the  true  philosophical  historian  could  ride  after 
Cromwell  like  an  Ironside  and  adore  the  Kin<^  like  a  Cavalier. 

The  only  history  that  is  worth  knowing,  or  worth  striving  to 
know,  is  the  history  of  the  human  head  and  the  human  heart,  and 
of  what  orcat  loves  it  has  been  enamoured  :  truth  in  the  sense  of 
the  absolute  justice  is  a  thing  for  which  fools  loolc  in  history  and 
wise  men  in  the  Day  of  Judgment.  It  is  the  glory  of  Carlyle 
that  he  did  realise  that  the  intellectual  impartiality  of  the  rationalist 
historian  was  merely  emotional  ignorance.  It  was  his  only  defect 
that  he  extended  his  sympathy,  in  cases  like  that  of  the  French 
Revolution,  only  to  headlong  men  and  impetuous  actions,  and 
not  to  great  schools  of  revolutionary  doctrine  and  faith.  He  made 
somewjiat  the  same  mistake  with  regard  to  the  Middle  Ages, 
touching  which  his  contributions  are  imequalled  in  j^icturcsqueness 
and  potency.  He  conceived  the  mediaeval  period  in  Europe  as  a 
}:)arbaric  verity,  "  a  rude,  stalwart  age " ;  he  did  not  realise  what  is 
more  and  more  unfolding  itself  to  all  serious  historians,  that  the 
medi{u\al  period  in  Europe  was  a  civilisation  based  u])()n  a  certain 
scheme  of  moral  science  of  almost  unexampled  multiplicity  and 
stringency,  a  scheme  in  which  the  colours  of  a  lacquey's  coat  could 
be  traced  back  to  a  system  of  astronomy,  and  the  smallest  bye-law 
for  a  village  green  had  some  relation  to  great  ecclesiastical  and 
moral  mysteries.  It  is  remarkable  that  w^e  always  call  a  rival  civili- 
sation savaffc :  the  Chinese  call  us  barbarians,  and  we  call  them 
barbarians.  The  Middle  Ages  were  a  rival  civilisation,  based  upon 
moral  science,  to  ours  based  upon  physical  science.  Most  modern 
historians  have  abused  this  great  civilisation  for  being  barbarous : 
Carlyle  had  made  one  great  stride  beyond   them   in  so  far  that  he 


THOMAS   CARLVLE 


3.J 


admired  it  for  being  barbarous.  15ut  liis  fatal  strain  of  intel- 
lectual impatience  prevented  him  from  getting  on  to  the  riglit 
side  of  Catholic  dogmas,  just  as  it  prevented  him  from  getting  on 
to  the  right  side  of  Jacobin  dogmas.  He  never  really  disco\ered 
what  other  people   meant   by   Apostolic  Succession,  or  Liberty,  or 

Equality,  or  Fraternity.  

Probably  his  few  mis- 
takes arose  from  his  un- 
fortunate tendency  to  find 
"shams."  Some  have  sup- 
posed this  to  be  the  essence 
and  value  of  his  message  ;  it 
was  in  truth  its  worst  pitfall 
and  disaster.  A  man  is 
almost  always  wrong  when 
he  sets  about  to  prove  the 
unreality  and  usclcssncss  of 
anything :  he  is  almost  in- 
variably right  when  he  sets 
about  to  pro\'e  the  reality 
and  value  of  an}i:hing.  1 
have  a  quite  different  and 
much  more  genuine  right  to 
say  that  bull's-eyes  are  nice 
than  I  have  to  say  liquorice 
is  nasty :  I  have  found  out 
the  meaning  of  the  first 
and  not  of  the  second. 
And  if  a  man  goes  on  a 
tearing  hunt  after  shams,  as 
Carlyle   did,   it  is   probable  statue  ok  carlvle 

,  !•       1        By  Sir  J.  E.  Boehm,  R.A.     In  the  Gardens  on  the  Chelsea  Embankment 

that     he      will     find     little  Rischgitz  collection. 


36 


J5I()(;i{APIIK'AL    XOTK. 


or    notliiii.ir     real.       lie     is     tcariiio-     oil"    the     hraiiclics     to    find   llic 
ti-cc. 

I  have  said  all  that  is  to  he  said  against  C'arlylc's  work  almost 
dcsiq-iiedly  :  for  lie  is  one  of  those  who  are  so  <>rcat  that  we  rather 
need  to  hlanie  them  for  the  sake  of  our  own  inde^^cndeiiee  than 
praise  them  for  the  sake  of  their  fame.  lie  came  and  spoke  a  word, 
and  the  ehatter  of  rationalism  sto})ped.  and  the  sums  would  no 
lon,<>er  work  out  and  be  ended.  He  was  a  breath  of  Xature  turning 
in  her  sleep  under  the  load  of  eivilisation.  a  stir  in  the  very  stillness 
of  God  to  tell  us    He  was  still  there. 


Arc'a  House, 
Ecclcfechan 

Carlyle's  motber 

StV  /<7^V   I 

Ecclefichan, 
Dumiiiesshire 

J6r  /ur^L-  3 


The  room  in 
■wli:ch  Carlyle 
was  bom 

see  page  2 


Carlyle's  first 
Edinburgh 
lod{jing  in  Simon 
Square 

see  page  8 


1,  Moray  Street 
(now  Spey  Street), 
Leith  Walk, 
Edinburgh 

sec  p.ii;cq 


mOGRAPHTCAL    NOTE. 

Ill  a  liousc  u'liicli  liis  father,  a  inasoii.  h.id  Imilt  with  his  own  haiuls, 
Tlioiiias  Carlyh'  was  Iidhi  on  IH'ceinher  4tli,  \~W).  His  motlier,  Marji-ai-ct 
Aitkcii,  "a  wdinaii  of  the  fairest  descent,  that  of  tlie  pious,  the  just  and 
wise,"  was  tlie  second  wife  of  James  Carlyle,  and  Tliomas  was  the  eldest  of 
their  nine  children. 

In  tlie  Eiitejifulil  of  Sartor  h'r.sarfiix  Carlyle  lias  pictin-ed  his  native 
villaii-e.  It  consisted  of  a  sinirle  street,  do\\n  the  side  of  which  ran  an  open 
hrook.  "A\'itli  aiiiazenient/'  he  writes,  '•  I  l)ey-aii  to  discover  that  Knte])fMhl 
stood  in  the  middle  of  a  country,  of  a  worhl.  ...  It  was  then  that, 
independently  of  Schiller's  Wilhcliii  TvIL  I  made  tlii>  not  (piite  insi^^niticaiit 
rellection  (so  true  also  in  spiritual  tliin;is)  :  *  Any  road,  this  simjde 
Ente])fu]il  road,  will  lead  you  to  the  end  of  tlic  world  I'"  'I'lie  room 
at  Arch  House  in  wliicli  hi'  \\as  lioi-ii  now  contains  ^ome  inti'i'oting 
mementoes.  ( )n  tlie  mantelpiece  .-ire  two  turned  wooden  candlesticks,  a 
gift  of  John  Sterliim'.  sent  from  Rome  ;  the  tahle  pro\ides  a  restirfr-placc 
for  his  study-lamp  and  liis  tea-caddy.  Most  of  the  furniture  came  from 
Cheyne  How. 

Carlyle  came  up  from  Ivc  lef'cchan  to  attend  IOdinl)ur;rli  Inix  ersity  when 
he  was  scarcely  fourteen  years  of  a^-'e,  and  witli  a  companion,  Tom  Siuail, 
journeyed  the  entire  distance  on  foot.  They  secured  a  dean-looking  and 
cheap  lodjriiifr  in  Simon  Stjiiare.  a  j»oor  neiirhhourhood  on  the  south  side  of 
Ivlinhurfrh,  otf  Xicliolscm  Street.  After  residiiiL""  in  \arious  parts  of  the  (dd 
town,  Carlyle  removed  in  ll):.'!  to  hctter  i|iiartci-,  and  the  nit)st  interesting  of 
hi<  \arious  ril)iid("-  in  l']diMl(Ui-;;li  wa<  at  I.  Moray  Street  (now  Sjiey  Street), 
i^citli  Walk.  licic  111-  (•(imm('nc<'(i  his  lilcrar\'  work  in  earnest,  .'ind  he^^an 
to  repird  lil'e  from  a  hrifrliter  standjioint.  Leith  \\  alk  is  descrihed  in  Stirtor 
Ih'sitrtiis  as  the  linr  Sitiiit-Tliinini.s  tie  I'  F.iifcr.  '*  All  at  once,"  lie  writes,  "  there 
rose  a  thoiiL''ht  in  me,  anil  I  asked  mystdf,  '  \\'hat  itrt  thou  afrai<l  of?  ..." 
It  is  from  this  hcuir  that  I  incline  to  date  my  spiritual  new  liirth  or  liajihometic 
tire-haptisiii  :    pcrliaps  I  diiTcti\'  tliereiipon  hciran  to  he  a  man.  " 


lUOCiUAPIIICAL   NOTE. 


37 


The  liouse  in 
wliich  Carlyle 
lived  whilst 
teaching  at 
Kirkcaldy  school 
see  page  ii 


Mainhill  Farm 

seepage  J, 


Hoddam  Hill 

see  fiige  4 


Scotsbrig 

see  page  12 


Jane  Welsh 
Carlyle 

see  page  2i 


Mrs.  Car^yle's 

Birthplare, 

Haddington 

see  page  11 


Templand,  near 

Thornhill, 

Dumfriesshire 

seepage  12 

2\.  rrnnelv  Bank 
Edinburgh 

see  j/age  14 


Craigenputtock 

see  page  19 


It  was  at  Kirkcaldy  that  Carlyle  first  met  Kfhvanl  Irviiifr,  tlu'  master  of  a 
rival  sfliodl  in  tlic  town.  Tiiey  hecaiiu'  intimate  friends.  "  I{iit  for  Irvinjr," 
he  says,  "  I  had  never  known  what  the  communion  of  man  with  man  niuans." 
It  was  here,  too,  that  lie  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Marji^aret  (Jordon, 
tlie  "  Blumine "  of  Snrtor  Rexdrtus.  Carlyle  describes  the  town  in  tlie 
lU-miiiisantccs :  "  Kirkcaldy  itself  .  .  .  was  a  solidly  diliffcnt,  yet  hy  no  means 
a  pantin^r,  puffing,  or  in  any  way  gamhling  '  Lang  Toun.'  I,  in  particular, 
always  ratlier  liked  the  people — thougli  from  the  distance,  chiefly  ;  chagrined 
and  discouraged  Ity  the  sad  trade  one  had  !  " 

In  IHlo  the  Carlyles  moved  to  Mainliill  Farm,  and  here  he  "first  learned 
German,  studied  Faust  in  a  dry  ditch,  and  comjjleted  liis  translation  of 
Wilhi-hn  Meister  !  "  Ten  years  later  Carlyle  took  possession  of  Iloddam 
Hill  Farm,  his  mother  going  with  him  as  housekeeper,  and  liis  brotlier  A  lick 
as  practical  farmer.  Here  they  remained  until  1826.  "  With  all  its  manifold 
petty  troubles,"  says  Carlyle,  in  the  Bemi7iifice7ice.s,  "this  year  at  Hoddam 
Hill  has  a  rustic  beauty  and  dignity  to  me  ;  and  lies  now  like  a  not  ignoble 
russet-coated  idyll  in  my  memory." 

The  abrupt  termination  of  Carlyle's  tenancy  of  Hoddam  Hill  occurred 
simultaneously  with  the  expiration  of  his  father's  lease  of  Mainliill,  and  in 
182(!  tlie  family  removed  to  Scotsbrig,  that  excellent  "  '  shell  of  a  house '  for 
farming  purposes,"  where  Carlyle's  parents  spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 
In  this  mipretentious  home  Carlyle  passed  many  restful  holidays  among  his 
own  people. 

"  In  the  ancient  county-town  of  Haddington,"  he  writes,  "on  July  14th, 
1801,  there  was  born  to  a  lately  wedded  pair  a  little  daughter,  whom  they 
named  Jane  Baillie  Welsli,  and  whose  subsequent  and  final  name  (her  own 
common  signature  for  many  years)  was  Jane  AVelsh  Carlyle.  .  .  .  Oh,  she 
was  noble,  very  noble,  in  that  early  as  in  all  other  periods,  and  made  the 
ugliest  and  dullest  into  something  beautiful  !  I  look  back  on  it  as  if  through 
rainbows — the  bit  of  sunshine  hers,  the  tears  my  own." 

Mrs.  Carlyle,  in  her  Ear/y  Letters,  mentions  her  father's  home  at  Haddington 
where  she  was  born.  "  It  is  my  native  place  still  !  and  after  all,  there  is  much 
in  it  that  I  love.  I  love  the  bleaching  green,  where  I  used  to  caper,  and  roll, 
and  tumble,  and  make  gowan  necklaces  and  chains  of  dandelion  stalks,  in  the 
days  of  my  '  wee  existence.'  " 

Carlyle's  marriage  with  Jane  Baillie  AVelsli  took  place  on  October  17th, 
1820,  at  Templand,  where  Mrs.  ^Velsh  then  resided.  The  ceremony  was  of 
the  quietest  description,  his  brother  John  Carlyle  being  the  only  person  present 
besides  Miss  Welsh's  family. 

For  eighteen  months  after  their  marriage  the  Carlyles  lived  at  21,  Comely 
Bank,  the  "  trim  little  cottage,  far  from  all  the  uproar  and  putrescence 
(material  and  spiritual)  of  the  reeky  town,  the  sound  of  which  we  hear  not, 
and  only  see  over  the  knowe  the  reflection  of  its  gaslights  against  the  dusky 
sky."  It  was  during  this  time  that  Carlyle  contributed  essays  to  the  Edhihurgh 
and  Foreign  Quarterly  Feview-s:  In  1828  a  removal  was  made  to  Mr.  AVelsh's 
manor  at  Craigenputtock,  where  in  the  solitude  "almost  druidical"  Sartor 
Fe.sartns  was  written.  "  Poor  Puttock  !  "  he  exclaims  in  one  of  his  letters, 
"  Castle  of  many  chagrins  ;  peatbog  castle,  where  the  devil  never  slumbers  tioj 


38 


HIOGUAPHICAL   NOTE. 


Carlyle's  house 
1 1  5  (now  24), 
Cueyne  Row, 
Chelsea 

ui  pa^e  21 


Comer  in 
Drawing-room  at 
6,  Cheyne  Row 
sec  pdi^e  22 


The  Garden  at 

5,  Cheyne  Row 

see  piigc  23 


The  Sound-proof 
study  at  Cheyne 
Row 

see  page  31 


The  garret  study 
in  1857 


sleeps  !  very  touchiiij?  art  tlnm  to  iiu'  wlicii  I  look  cm  tliy  iinnf,fO /lero."  Iiitliis 
lonely  spot,  cut  off  from  all  social  intercourse,  the  Carlyles  remained  until 
lli.'U,  wlicn,  after  "six  years'  imprisoinnent  on  the  Diunfriesslnre  moor,"  they 
moved  to  Chelsea  and  took  up  their  residence  at  Xo.  o,  Cheyne  Row,  in  tlie 
house  wliicli  was  to  he  their  home  until  death. 

After  a  week's  wearisome  iiousc-hnntinij:  in  London  uniler  the  guidance  of 
Leigh  Hunt,  Carlyle  sent  a  lonjr  description  of  the  j)roposed  new  residence  to 
his  wife,  of  which  tiie  following  is  an  extract : — "  ^^'e  are  calletl  '  Cheyne  Row  ' 
proper  (pronounced  Chainie  Row)  and  are  a  'genteel  neighbourhood,'  two  old 
ladies  on  the  one  side,  unknown  character  on  the  other,  but  with  *  pianos '  as 
Hunt  said.  The  street  is  flag-patlied.  sunk-storied,  iron-railed,  all  old- 
fashioned  and  tightly  done  up.  .  .  .  I  "he  house  itself  is  eminent,  antique, 
wainscoted  to  the  very  ceiling,  and  has  been  all  new  painteil  and  repaired.  .  .  . 
On  the  whole  a  most  massive,  roomy,  suthcient  old  house,  witli  places,  for 
example,  to  hang,  say,  three  dozen  hats  or  cloaks  on,  and  as  many  crevices 
and  queer  old  presses  and  shelved  closets  as  would  gratify  the  most  covetous 
Goody — rent  £'3.5  !     I  confess  I  am  strongly  tempted." 

The  brightest  and  happiest  part  of  Carlyle's  day  was  the  early  evening. 
"  Home  between  five  and  six,  with  mud  mackintoshes  off,  and  the  nightmares 
locked  up  for  a  while,  1  tried  for  an  hour's  sleep  before  my  (solitjiry,  dietetic, 
altogether  simple)  hit  of  diinier  ;  but  first  always  came  up  for  half  an  hour  to 
the  drawing-room  and  her  ;  where  a  bright,  kindly  fire  was  sure  to  be  burning 
(candles  hardly  lit,  all  in  trustful  chiaroscuro).  .  .  .  'ITiis  was  the  one  bright 
portion  of  my  black  day.  Oh,  those  evening  half-liours,  how  beautiful  and 
blessed  they  were  !  " 

The  garden  at  Cheyne  Row  was  much  apjireciated  by  the  Carlyles,  who 
turned  to  the  best  advantage  this  "  poor  sooty  patch."  Airs.  Carlyle  \\rites  : 
"  Behind  we  have  a  garden  (so  called  in  the  huiguage  (»f  flattery)  in  the  worst 
of  order,  but  boasting  of  two  vines  which  produced  two  bunches  of  grapes  in 
the  season,  which  *  might  be  eaten,'  and  a  walnut  tree,  from  which  I  gathered 
almost  sixpence-worth  of  walnuts."  Here  stood  the  quaint  china  barrels  she 
often  referred  to  as  "  noblemen's  seats,"  but  Carlyle  generally  used  one  of  the 
kitchen  chairs  by  preference.  He  found  the  garden  "of  admirable  comfort 
in  the  smoking  way,"  and  sometimes  in  sunnner  would  have  his  writing-table 
])laced  uniler  an  awning  stretched  fin-  tliat  purpose,  and  with  a  tray  full  of  hooks 
at  his  side  would  work  there  when  tiie  heat  drove  him  from  his  garret  study. 

The  construction  of  this  sound-proof  study  was  proposed  as  far  l)ack  as 
\\\V.\,  but  not  until  ten  years  later  was  the  enterprise  put  into  practical  execu- 
tion. On  August  11th,  IH.").'},  Carlyle  wrote  to  his  sister:  "At  length,  after 
deep  deliberation,  1  have  fairly  decided  to  have  a  top  story  put  upon  the  house, 
one  big  apartment,  twenty  feet  square,  with  thin  lUmhlc  walls,  light  from  the 
top,  etc.,  and  artfully  ventilated,  into  which  no  sound  cmi  come  ;  and  all  the 
cocks  in  nature  may  crow  round  it  without  my  hearing  a  whisjter  of  them  !  " 

The  scheme  looked  promising  on  paj)er,  but  the  result  ^vas  "  irremediably 
somewhat  of  a  failure."  Althongii  the  noises  in  the  inunediate  neigliliour- 
bood  \\('re  excluded,  sounds  in  the  distance,  "evils  tiiat  he  knew  not  of"  in 
the  lower  rooms,  became  painfully  audilde  ;  nexcrtheless  he  occupied  the 
room  as  his  study  until  ]}!(».").  and   liere.  "  whirled  aloft   by  angry  elements," 


lilOGRxVPlllCAL   NOTE. 


30 


Carlyle's  writing- 
table  and  cbdir 

see  page  33 


The  ground  floor 
rooms  at  5, 
Cbeyne  Row 

see  pa^e  28 


The  kitchen  at 

5,  Cheyne  Kow 

see  page  32 


Mrs.  Carlyle's 
grave 

see  page  26 


Carlyle's  grave 

see  page  26 


he  conipletcMl  wliat  Dr.  (Jariictt  nanit'd  wfll  "Ilis  Tliirtocii  Years'  War 
with  Krc'dorifk."  ilis  vvrilinir-talile  and  arrn-cliair  stood  near  tlie  centre,  and 
witliin  easy  reach  was  tlie  little  maliogaiiy  tahle  for  the  hooks  he  happened 
to  he  using — or  such  of  tlieni  as  were  not  on  tlie  floor. 

C'arlyle  bequeathed  his  writing-tahle  to  Sir  James  Stephen.  "  I  know," 
lie  wrote  in  his  will,  "  he  will  accept  it  as  a  distinguished  mark  of  my  esteem 
He  knows  that  it  belonged  to  my  father-in-law  and  his  daughter,  and  that  1 
have  written  all  my  hooks  upon  it,  except  only  Sriiilli-r,  and  that  for  fifty 
years  and  upwards  that  are  now  passed  1  have  considered  it  among  the  most 
precious  of  my  possessions." 

It  was  into  the  ground-floor  room— at  that  time  spoken  of  as  the 
''parlour" — that  Edward  Irving  was  ushered  when  he  paid  his  one  visit 
to  Cheyne  Row,  in  autumn  1884.  "  I  recollect,"  writes  (^arlyle  in  the 
Reminiscences,  "  how  he  complimenttul  her  (as  well  he  miglit)  on  the  pretty 
little  room  she  had  made  for  her  husband  and  self ;  and,  running  his  eye  over 
her  dainty  bits  of  arrangement,  ornamentations  (all  so  frugal,  simple,  full 
of  grace,  propriety,  and  ingenuity  as  they  ever  were),  said,  smiling :  '  You 
are  like  an  Eve,  and  make  a  little  Paradise  wherever  you  are.'  " 

No  description  of  Carlyle's  Chelsea  home  would  be  complete  without 
mention  of  the  kitchen  where  Mrs.  Carlyle  made  marmalade  "  pure  as  liquid 
amber,  in  taste  and  look  almost  poetically  delicate  "  ;  and  where,  too,  she 
stirred  Leigh  Hunt's  endlessly  admirable  morsel  of  Scotch  porridge." 
Readers  of  the  Letters  and  Memorials  will  obtain  many  glimjjses  of  this 
apartment  and  its  occupants.  The  fittings  were  very  old-fashioned,  espe- 
cially the  open  kitchen-range  with  its  "kettle-crane"  and  "movable 
niggards."  The  dresser  which  stood  there  in  1834  remains  against  the 
south  wall  ;  the  table  still  stands  in  the  centre,  and  there  is  a  sink  in 
the  corner  beside  the  disconnected  pump. 

When  Carlyle  was  resting  at  Dumfries,  after  the  exhaustion  of  his 
triumphant  Inaugural  Address  upon  his  installation  as  Lord  Rector  of 
Edinburgh  University,  he  received  the  announcement  of  his  wife's  sudden 
death  whilst  driving  in  her  carriage  in  Hyde  Park  on  April  21st,  18G6. 
ITie  effect  of  the  calamity  upon  him  was  terrible.  "There  is  no  spirit 
in  me  to  write,"  he  said,   "though  I  try  it  sometimes." 

Mrs.  Carlyle  was  buried  in  Haddington  Church.  "  I  laid  her  in  the  grave 
of  her  father,"  writes  Carlyle  in  the  Reminiscences,  "  according  to  covenant 
of  forty  years  back,  and  all  was  ended.  In  the  nave  of  old  Abbey  Kirk, 
long  a  ruin,  now  being  saved  from  further  decay,  with  the  skies  looking 
down  on  her,  there  sleeps  my  little  Jeannie,  and  the  light  of  her  face  will 
never  shine  on  me  more." 

The  inscription  on  Carlyle's  tombstone  is  very  simple  :  the  family  crest 
(two  wyverns),  the  family  motto  (Iliimilitute),  and  then  tliese  few  words  :— 
"Here  rests  Tliomas  Carlyle,  who  was  born  at  Ecclefechan, 
4th    December,    1705,   and   died  at   24,   Cheyne  Row,    Chelsea, 
London,  on  Saturday,   5th   February,   1881. 

''No  monument,"  writes  Froude,  "is  needed  for  one  who  has  made  an 
eternal  memorial  for  himself  in  tlie  hearts  of  all  to  whom  Inith  is  tlie 
dearest  of  possessions." 


THOMAS 

CARLYLE 


NOTE    OX   SOME 
in)HTKAITS   OF   THOMAS    CAREVEE. 


From  a  portrait 
by  Daniel 
Maclise,  R.A. 

From  a  sketch  by 
Count  D'Orsay 
(1839) 

From  Sir  J.  E. 
Boehm's  gold 
medallion 

J<r /,/;'■<'  IS 

From  a  drawing 
by  E.  J.  Sullivan 

see  />tiX''  24 


From  the 
painting  by 
J.  McNeUl 
Whistler 

see  /'iige  13 


From  the 

painting;  by 

G.  F.  Watts,  R.A., 

lut.  73 

see  page  30 


From  the 
portrait  painted 
by  Sir  J.  E. 
MiUais,  P.R.A. 
see  ptigc  27 


From  a  statue  by 
Sir  J.  E.  Boehm, 
R.A. 

see  page  35 


Tliis  jKirtrait  is  now  in  the  \'i<'ti>ria  and  Allicrt  Musciiin.  '' Carlylc." 
\\  riti's  l)a\i(l  llaniiay  in  tlic  .]/(it/iiziiir  (if  Art,  "  alrcaily  tlie  aiitlmi'  of 
Siirfof  I'i'xartiifi,  stands  loaninj;  aj^ainst  tlie  traditional  pillar  wltli  the  con- 
ventional air  of  t'oloiirless  ^niul  hreedinir.  Tiiere  is  neither  line  in  iiis 
fare  nor  litrlit   in   his  ev".  " 

"  He  (l)'()r>ay)  lias  contrived/'  says  the  same  uriter,  "to  make  (  arlyle 
look  like  the  hero  of  a  lady's  novel — an  excellent  young  man  uitii  a  cm! 
in  liis  upper  lip  and  a  well-combed  head  of  hair." 

The  medallion  has  been  reproduceil  from  a  wood  eiiiiravin^-  liy  Pearson. 
It  was  presented  to  ('arlyle  in  lii~'>,  on  his  eiglitii'th  Itirtiiday,  1)\'  friends  and 
admirers  in  Kdinhurjjfh. 

**  Professor  Dioj^enes  'reufelsdriickli,  of  ^\'eissnichtwo,  is  nothinjr  if  he 
is  not  ('arlyle  in  disfjuise,  the  projection  of  the  Scotclnnan's  indi\idMality 
upon  a  half-lnmioroiis,  half-})lnlosopliical  (icnnan  liacku:round." — I'^i'nest 
Rhys  :   lntr(iduct(n-y  Note  to  Siirfor  h'cKiiffiis. 

''  Mr.  A\'histler,  in  the  (ila.sg-ow  Corporation  Art  Galleries,  has  distinctly 
succeeded  in  niakin^f  the  face  of  Carlyle  interestinff.  He  has  avoided  any- 
thing like  e.\.ag-geration.  He  has  not  tried  to  make  capital  out  of  the  rugged 
nuiss  of  the  hair,  or  to  give  a  wild-man-of-the-woods  look  to  the  face  by  hiying 
.stress  on  its  deej)  lines  and  stern  contours.  The  head  is  noble,  quiet,  and 
sad.  'I'he  artist  has  tried  to  jjaint  a  serious  portrait  rather  than  to  give  a 
'view,'  and  he  has  succeeded."— -David   Hannay  in  the  Maijiiziiie  0/  Art. 

'J'his  pen-trait,  executed  for  tlidni  Forster,  who  was  very  jdeast-d  with  it, 
is  now  in  the  National  Portrait  (iallery.  (arlyle  himself  describes  it  as 
"a  delirious-looking  mountebank,  full  of  violence,  awkwardness,  atntcity, 
and  stupidity,  without  recognisalile  likeness  to  anytliing  I  have  ever  known 
in  any  feature  of  me.  Fuit  in  J'nti.s.  \\  hat  care  1,  after  all .''  Forster  is 
nnich  content." 

The  ])icture  by  MiUais,  also  in  the  National  Portrait  (iallery,  was  ]»ainted 
in  IJiTT  for  Mr.  ,1.  A.  Froude.  His  opinion  of  it  was  as  follows: — "  And  yet 
under  .MiUais's  hands  the  (dd  (arlyle  stood  again  upon  the  canvas  as  I  had 
not  seen  him  for  thirty  years.  The  inner  secret  of  the  features  had  been 
evidently  caught.  There  was  a  likeness  which  no  sculptor,  no  pliotographer, 
had  yet  equalled  or  approaciu'd.  Afterwards,  I  knew  not  how,  it  seemed  to 
fade  away.  Millais  grew  dis.^atistied  with  his  work,  and,  I  believe,  never 
comjdeted  it." 

In  the  gardens  on  the  (ihelsea  Embankment  stands  a  statue  of  Tlumias 
(  arlyle  in  bronze  by  the  late  Sir  Kdgar  Hoehm,  wbicli  was  jdaced  there  by 
suliscription  in  IMiJii.  Mr.  Froude  c(msidered  it  "as  satisfactory  a  likeness 
in  face  anrl  figure  as  could  be  renilere<l  in  sculpture  ;  and  the  warm  regard 
which  had  grown  uj)  between  the  artist  and  (arlyle  had  enalded  Hoeinn  to 
catch  with  more  than  common  success  the  shifting  changes  of  his  expression.  " 
40 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 
Both  Reduced  to  Is.  net. 

Grcpbcaras  at  piap. 

Literature  and   Art 
for  Old   Gentlemen. 

Rhymes  and  Sketches,  with  Cover  Design 
in  Nursery  Colours. 

By  G.  K.  CHESTERTON. 

"  One  of  ilie  cleverest  collections  of  this  kind 
I  have  ever  come  across."  —  7/ie  Sketch. 

"  Very  good   and  very  humorous.  ' — Black  and 
Jl'hue. 

"  We  only  wish  for  one  addition  to  the  book  : 
more — of  everything."-  — 7'/^^  Book/nan. 

"The  Bookman,"  like   Oliver  Twist, 
"  ASKS  I'OR  more." 


Uniform  with  tlie  Above. 

nonsense  Rbpmes. 

By  COSMO  MONKHOUSE. 
Illustrated  by  G.  K.  CHESTERTON. 

"  Tlie  most  diverting  Christmas  book  of  verses 
we  have  seen." — Literature. 


i\Ir.  Briiiilcy  JoJinsoii's  publications  include 
tJie  '"'' Novels  of  Jane  Ansfen" — HavipsJtire 
Edition.,  li'iih  an  enlirely  novel  vicihod  of 
illiesl?-alion  J  the  dain/y  "  Yo7-/c  Lil)ra?y" — 
selections  from  Lamb,  Southey,  and  Spencer  j 
Lady  Duff  Gordoifs  ^^  Letters  from  Egypt" — 
with  an  Lntroduction  by  George  Meredith; 
'"''  Letters  from  JoJin  CJnnaman"  j  "  From  the 
Abyss"  by  an  LnJuibitant ;  "  The  Gospel 
Manuscripts" J  '''■  Latter  Day  Parables" — 
being  Dreams  and  Allegories  by  Modern 
Hands  J  Centenary  Editioti  of '"'■  Mrs.  Caudle^ s 
Curtaift  Lectures"  and  "  The  Wonderful 
Story  of  Dunder  Van  Haelden"  by  Edward 
Chesterton. 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

Cl)c  Defendant 

BV 

G.    K.    CHESTERTON. 

Crown  8vo,  2s.   6d.  net. 


31  Jew  f^otiees. 

"  Clever  and  humorous  .  .  .  will  interest  any- 
body who  can  enjoy  a  paradox  neatly  put." — 
Scots /nan. 

"  Really  one  cannot  help  agreeing  with  such  an 
engaging  advocate." — Morning  Leader. 

"We  heartily  commend  Mr.  Chesterton's  many 
novel  points  of  view  to  the  earnest  consideration 
of  our  readers.  '  The  Defendant '  is  a  book  that 
will  be  read  with  both  pleasure  and  profit." — 
Aberdeen  Journal. 

"  His  style  is  limpid  and  lucid." — Sund'iy  Sun. 

"  He  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  high-spirited, 
the  Quixotic,  and  the  things  of  the  mind." — Daily 
Chronicle. 

"  Bright  and  brilliant."— 77^d'  Star. 

"  Mr.  Chesterton  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  the  younger  journalists." — Observer. 

"  At  once  marked  by  originality  of  thought  and 
distinction  of  style."  — 5'?/W(Z/  limes. 

"  G.  K.  Chesterton  is  a  master  of  paradox." — 
Dundee  Advertiser. 

"A  series  of  breezy  and  thoughtful  essays." — 
Christian. 

"Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton  is  always  interesting 
and  amusing." — Echo. 

"Time  and  again  in  reading  it  we  have  had  to 
lay  it  down  and  lie  back  in  our  chair  and  laugh. 
And  yet,  perhaps,  its  dominant  note  is  its  noble 
seriousness. " — Sheffield  Telegraph. 

"Sufficiently  epigrammatic  to  be  piquant." — 
County  Gentle/nan. 

"The  excruciating  joy  of  reading  the  Essays." 
—Daily  Nezvs. 

"  Mr.  Chesterton  has  a  style  that  is  all  his  own, 
a  pretty  wit  and  a  happy  knack  of  putting  things, 
combined  with  a  dry  humour  that  never  fails  to 
make  the  most  unlikely  subject  interesting.'' — 
Aberdeen  four  n  at. 


Second  Edition  Ready. 
MORE  MATTER.  HALF  PRICE. 


R.   BRIMLEY   JOHNSON,  8,  York  Buildings,  Adelphi,  W.C, 


"The  Bookman"  Biographies. 

A  Sir/,s  of  ropiilar  llltistratcil  Monogyaphf  on   Gnaf    U'n'/.rs. 

With  a  Special  Half-Tone  Photogravure  Frontispiece,  and  a  wealth  of  excellent  illustrations. 

Price  Is.   net  each  volume  (postage   2d.). 


I. 


2. 


^^•3 


4- 


Thomas   Carlyle. 

By   Q.    K.    CHESTERTON   and 
J.    E.    HODDER   WILLIAMS. 

[K,ady. 

Robert   Louis   Stevenson. 

By   W.    ROBERTSON    NICOLL, 
a.    K.    CHESTERTON,   etc. 

\^Kca(fy, 

Charles   Dickens.  , 

By   G.    K.   CHESTERTON, 
F.    G.    KITTON,    and 
J.    E.    HODDER  WILLIAMS. 

{A'cady, 


Leo   Tolstoy. 


By   O.   K.    CHESTERTON, 
G.    H.    PERRIS,    etc. 


5.  Sir   Walter   Scott. 


{Kcijdy. 


By  W.   S.    CROCKETT, 
JAMES    L.    CAW, 
J.    E.    HODDER  WILLIAMS. 

[Oi/oher. 


6.  Alfred   Tennyson. 


By   G.    K,    CHESTERTON, 

Dr.    RICHARD   GARNETT,    C.B. 

{Oc-tol'dt: 


Robert  Browning. 


By  JAMES    DOUGLAS, 

J.    E.    HODDER   WILLIAMS. 


8.  W.   M.   Thackeray. 


By  G.    K.    CHESTERTON, 
LEWIS   MELVILLE. 

{No7r»if>er. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    PRESS    NOTICES. 

"  ProviclinR  as  they  do  brief,  vivid  and  instructive  ini|)ressions  of  men  in  wlioni  eveiyhndy  is  interested, 
these  little  liocjks  are  sure  to  Ik-  widely  soiiglu  for." — T/w  Scu/sman. 

"  The  Hookni;in  Hiosjraphics  should  be  a  great  success.  The  books  are  very  fully  illustrated  with  excellent 
reproductions."-  -/'(///  Mai/  Ciazetle. 

"  Nfossrs.  Hodder  and  Stous^liton  have  had  the  happjf  idea  ot  rc-issuing  some  ol  the  literary  biographies 
and  criticisms  which  iiavc  ajjpeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  *  Bookman."  The  scries  should  become  popular." 
—Daily  Mail. 

"  Comprises  a  vast  amount  of  bio;,'raphy,  criticism  and  pictorial  ilhistration  in  a  remarkable  small  c(unpass. 
— Si.  /a rues'  (iazetlc.  ^^^^^^_^^.^___^^^.^^^^^^_ 

I^ondon:    HODDER    &   STOUCiHTON,    27,    Paterno.ster    Row,    E.G. 


'1  ^  ^lOfl  d36 


Co 


'!MlllkkU'J„,.. 

14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


f 


.General  Library  

University  of  California 
Berkeley 


76B 


Oenerai  i-iuiai? 
University  of  California 
Berkeley     ^^^ 


k 


